Three More Steps

For what seemed like an hour, I knelt uncomfortably behind the cedar at full draw. The bull had responded aggressively to my challenge and bugled back, enraged that any intruder dared trespass onto his valley. I watched the old monarch shred two cedars as he charged up the dark, heavily wooded canyon towards me.

The bull thundered again at twelve paces, decreasing me to a trembling, sweat-soaked pool of trepidation. Time stopped as an epiphany made me understand this creature bull elk was currently chasing me! How could this happen? My arms started to tremble as muscle exhaustion set in from being at full draw for a really long time. I held up and implored the bull would find a way to clear the cedar and give a shot open door. I attempted unsuccessfully to recapture my levelheadedness, I was shaken without a doubt. “On the off chance that this bull makes three more strides”, I contemplated internally, “I will see whether I have the mental durability to do what needs to be done.” Could I isn’t that right? What on the off chance that he charges? Three more steps…

Through the cedar I was disguised behind, I watched the bull breathing, so close I could see the tangled, wet hair on his neck. He carefully reviewed the mountainside for a look at his objective, for he had a score to settle. One stage, two, three. As he cleared the cedar, I settled my top stick simply behind his shoulder. The wild-looked at bull snapped his head toward me, glaring through protruding eyes. The snippet of truth had arrived, everything came down to this. I had arranged my entire life for this minute.

It had been a long and difficult adventure to this point. I had spent my childhood chasing squirrels, rabbits and whitetail. I had memberships to each chasing magazine in presence, perusing spread to cover, and over once more. I cherished the stories, however was particularly intrigued by the archery stories recounted high mountain enterprises. The intense, unsafe, unforgiving district that grizzly, mountain goats and elk called home, where harsh men on horseback spent long days coordinating minds with Mother Nature and regularly came back to camp eager and flat broke. I needed to resemble them, meandering through the snow capped glades of the high mountain nation and resting under the stars-where hawks challenged.